8 Oct
2016
8 Oct
'16
7 p.m.
-------- Original message --------
From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com>
Date: 2016-10-08 2:17 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Twiggys [was: Re: ka... ching!]
On 10/08/2016 09:46 AM, js at cimmeri.com wrote:
When I was a kid we had the IBM PCjr through
PS/2. ?Concurrently I had my own Commodore 64. ?Up until we got our AT, the Commodore was
the game machine. ?There were lots of PC versions of games out there but they *sucked* in
terms of graphics and sound (we also lacked a joystick for the PCs) compared to the
Commodore. ?King's Quest was the earliest game I played on PC.. but I don't recall
it being available on Commodore at the time. ?One of my best memories was of the computer
lab at our school. ?We had 30 64s up there chained to a 4040 (I think) via C64 Link
expanders. ?We had a game day every so many weeks and had all kinds of fun trying to get
games to load via that setup.
I remember thinking of gaming on 'Dad's computer' as an odd idea. ?But then
Test Drive came out. ?Then our school dumped the Commodores and went to PCs. ?People
started showing up at school for game day with PC games like Empire. ?And then the PC
finally started to catch up and surpass the Commodore in quality and the games reached a
level the Commodore couldn't do. ?Between that and the ease of loading things quickly
from hard drive.. the C64 ended up going into hibernation. ?After that it was all about
upgrading the PC to run Falcon or some such acceptably.
I think the people who complain about "Altairs
just sitting on
desks" might be doing so for at least one reason being because a
particular purpose seems to violate the original spirit, intent, and
purpose behind the creation.? I hear that a lot eg. "it's a shame
it's just sitting there, not being used."
It's when other purposes come in, and begin to make this hobby
purpose more difficult to engage in and "unobtainium", that the
hobbyists lament.? If there were enough for everyone, then there'd be
no complaining.
I have to confess to a certain amount of bemusement when I witness the
phenomenon of game-obsession with early PCs.? With the exception of
"home" systems, such as Commodore and perhaps Apple and the like, I knew
very few people who *purchased* a PC for game playing.? Did people play
games on PCs?? Sure--but that was rarely the reason that anyone ponied
up for a 1970s or 80s multiple-kilobuck system.? Mind you, this was
around the time that one could purchase a Porsche 914 for little more
than $3000.
Most of the people I knew purchased a PC to do business applications
(AR, AP, GL, inventory, payroll or word processing) or worked with
spreadsheets.?? Yet, very little of this is ever discussed on fora such
as the Vintage Computer Federation site.
Indeed, I think it's safe to speculate that the bulk of Intel Inboard
cards were sold to those running Lotus 1-2-3.
After we're all gone, what will future generations think of us? That we
developed new hardware and software solely to play games?
Wow.
--Chuck
8 Oct
8 Oct
8:26 p.m.
On 10/08/2016 07:00 PM, Brad H wrote:
When I was a kid we had the IBM PCjr through PS/2.
Concurrently I
had my own Commodore 64. Up until we got our AT, the Commodore was
the game machine.
I suspect that you might have put your finger on the nub of it all. I
did not have any familiarity with computers in either elementary school
or high school. I finally got to use a computer in college, but it was
all punch cards and I/O clerks. Classes needing computation were taught
using a slide rule.
So computers were not part of my formative years and that's perhaps why
I don't see the attraction of computer games--or Twitter, for that matter.
--Chuck
8:43 p.m.
On 10/8/2016 8:26 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
So computers were not part of my formative years and
that's perhaps why
I don't see the attraction of computer games--or Twitter, for that matter.
I
had the luck to have an Olivetti Programma 101 when I was in 5th grade
in the early 60's.
I had learned about programming, stored programming, and the like from
programming it. It had the capability to create commands in its storage
registers and execute them, and I credit that bit as a help when I later
took up programming as such things were not a mystery.
The bad news is now that I'm playing in an expensive playground, but
luckily have 2 of them as well as spares. It is an expensive
neighborhood, headed to the cost of the Lisa parts market unfortunately.
thanks
Jim
--
Note change in email address. Please use reply-to
address. TWC is changing their email and this may
change again reply to is jwsmail at jwsss.com
8:54 p.m.
To me, getting old computers up and running, or programming on them *is*
the game as far as I am concerned. More fun than most packaged software
games. I have made my own games, and I certainly play computer games, but
that's not why I am interested in vintage computing.
I just spent a few hours tonight attempting to network my NeXTstation color
computer and get to the post of accessing the vcfed.org forum so I could
post a message on there. Just for fun, using ancient dawn of the WWW
technology. Feels like a game to me, there is no practical purpose to
doing this other than enjoyment.
My point is for those of us who pooh pooh vintage gamers not to take
themselves too seriously. We're all just playing games if you ask me.
10:58 p.m.
On Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 8:54 PM, william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote:
To me, getting old computers up and running, or
programming on them *is*
the game as far as I am concerned. More fun than most packaged software
games. I have made my own games, and I certainly play computer games, but
that's not why I am interested in vintage computing.
I just spent a few hours tonight attempting to network my NeXTstation color
computer and get to the post of accessing the vcfed.org forum so I could
post a message on there. Just for fun, using ancient dawn of the WWW
technology. Feels like a game to me, there is no practical purpose to
doing this other than enjoyment.
My point is for those of us who pooh pooh vintage gamers not to take
themselves too seriously. We're all just playing games if you ask me.
Maybe thirty years ago, I had a friend who was into computers as a hobby,
as was I, and both of us also worked with them in our day jobs. We'd get
together and he'd tell me about his latest game acquisition. Then it was
my turn to talk, and I'd tell him about hacking the 0.98 Linux kernel to do
something I thought was interesting.
I've never been a gamer, but always played games down in the kernel.
--
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens
Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>
University of Washington
There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
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